-- and i will have some questions of my own. in the audience are voters who say, they plan to participate in new hampshire, republican

primary, both registered republicans, and undeclared voters who aren't registered with either major, party but are still allowed to participate in the primary elections. to -- cast a very wide net from various organizations, and business groups, and -- conservative advocacy. just of the desantis campaign -- and governor desantis, and a chance to hear directly from the candidate. now ladies and gentlemen, please welcome governor ron desantis.

before you get to folks of the audience, and as you mention, it is a -- donald trump cruised to victory. what can you do from stopping him from showing another big win here in new hampshire next week? >> look, i think it was the former president of the united states, he is one of the most famous people who has effer been in environment politics, and still had roughly half the iowa caucus goers. and there is an appetite for a different leader, and i think what i represent is somebody that has delivered on those key conservative policies that we have all been wanting to see in washington d.c.. you know, and florida, think

about what we have done with our tax system budget, massive tax cuts every year, budget surpluses, and we pay down 25% of our states total debt. that is all we have sad since statehood. florida state government, a lowest number of state employees for capital in the country. our budget, even though we have millions more people than new york, our budget is half the size of new york state's budget. so -- -- -- the border wall, when reducing that -- i have had almost $50 million against me this presidential election campaign. that is more than against donald trump and joe biden

combined. i think that should tell you something, they did not do that unless they think you are a threat. i think they see me rightfully as someone who is going to go to washington, and rearrange the deck chairs on the titanic, and be a change agent. we all know washington is going to be -- >> governor, instead of flying directly -- which doesn't hold until the end of february, and what message does that send to the folks here in new hampshire? >> i had the morning were usually candidates sleep in a bit after a hard-fought caucus, and let's make use of that, and --

nikki haley for example she did not even get on the nevada caucus ballots which is zero delegates no matter what happens i'm competing for delegates. yes the party went to a caucus to try to rig it for trump but you know as republicans it is not always going to be fair for us. you have to be willing to fight in all these situations. we are doing that. i think all three of those states are all going to happen over the next six weeks, and i think that will be really, really important. clearly, the tradition here, i think it is something very significant. i agreed to do a debate with -- abc on thursday, and with cnn on sunday. i am the only candidate that actually agreed to come to new hampshire to debate. what does that say? we have four candidates for president, now joe biden, donald trump, nikki, haley and me. i'm the only one who is not running a basement campaign at

this point. you are deserve as a voter to have the candidates come up, answer your questions and forms like, this have somebody like will moderate a debate where you go back and forth. i think we have gone away, from obviously donald trump did not obey the whole, time got away from hey, let's make people make these decisions to almost lead the media coverage determine what is going on. i don't think that is what we want in a republican government. >> governor, i want to turn to our voters now who are here with us in the audience. i want you to me, caleb here's a college student here in new hampshire who is from massachusetts. here's an undeclared voter who says he is currently undecided. go ahead. >> presidential press a lot of ads highlighting your endorsement of trump years earlier, how have you changed since then to become a better candidate for president than trump and the others? >> caleb, thanks for that. is this interesting. i miro publican.

i know 2016 trump was controversial, but i looked out and said with hillary, we are not going to get anything i believe in. with trump, even though he had a liberal, past maybe we can get some good stuff. to his credit, he did have some good policies. i supported for reelection in 2020, even though we had disagreements. for example, i disagreed with him turning over the government to doctor anthony fauci during covid. that created huge problems for this country, and donald trump and dr. fauci plunged our nation into a lockdown. we in florida jagged in this country out of lockdown. we made sure schools were open. we major businesses were open. we imposed any type of forced covid -- so those are just big time difference is, donald trump did not fire dr. fauci of, course i know most republicans think that should've had been, in his explanation was at the media and the left would have gotten upset at him which is absolutely true. but you know as a leader, you have to be willing to stand and do what is, right and take the heat. i can tell you, when we were

fighting and florida in those early, days to have schools open, businesses open, i was getting immense amount of pressure from the media, attacked by the, left even by people in my own party. i had a lot of supporters of mine who say you need to reverse course, because they are -- your political career is not going to be long, but you know, what a leader is going to put the interest of the people, their jobs and freedoms ahead of protecting his own political hide. so i was willing to let the chips fall where they made to do the right thing. >> governor, good follow-up. earlier today, governor haley spoke to our dana bash on cnn in new hampshire, today and said this about you. this is what governor healey said. he is not my concern. i'm going after trump. what do you say to her? >> so she said in her campaign said, that there is only two tickets out of iowa. the top two out of iowa would -- and she would finish at least

second, and that would be the race. guess what happened? even though she spent 100 percent of her money attacking me, and not one red cent attacking donald trump, i faced almost 50 million in total, i got him second, and she did not. that is just the reality. here is the thing. in iowa you can actually show up as a democrat on the day of the caucus, changer registration, and then participate in the republican caucus. in new hampshire, you can't do that. if you are a declared democrat, you can vote in the primary. so she was relying on her support for a lot of these democrats, changing their registration on the day of the caucus. here is the thing. in florida, i hand a lot more democrats than previous governors have been able to do. i think it is great in a general election to build -- but to win a republican primary, you can't rely on democrats coming in and changing the registration. you have to be able to win

court republicans. you have to win conservatives. she cannot do that. you look at a lot of those folks, i spoke at these caucuses, i spoke at two caucus sites. a lot of the trump voters were coming up to me, saying you know what, i am -- i love what you are doing. they know i have a great record. none of them like nikki haley, because they don't think she shares her values. so she does not have the ability to build the type of coalition you need to when a republican primary period, much less take on donald trump. >> governor, i want to go to christina, she works at a software, company and the mother of -- she is a republican from new hampshire who says she is undecided. christina, go ahead. >> the federal debt recently topped a staggering 34 trillion dollars. washington spending as their unlimited resources which places our future and that a future generations at risk. what would you do if elected to bring federal spending back in

control? are you willing to make balanced budgeting mandatory within your administration? >> thanks for that, and thanks for what you are doing, christina. as commander-in-chief, it will be very meaningful to me, and i will have his back. this is a problem, we have to be honest as republicans, it is not just -- and the democrats, both parties, they have spent and board and pointed, money particularly since covid. they went on a massive printing and spending binge. so you need a president that is going to go up, there and it's going to be a force for more restrained spending. that means you have to be willing to use your veto pen to veto some of these grotesque spending bills. in florida, i vetoed, a line item veto, which i will get you in a minute, because i think that will be good for their president, i vetoed 3% of the budget when you. that is one of the reasons we are able to pay down debt in the state of florida. so you have to do that. it requires leadership, you have to set by what he is, i do think we should have a balanced

budget requirement in the united states constitution. i know they have come close to passing, that may here's why it is good. in florida we have, it appears we have in new hampshire. you go into a legislative session, it is not even a question you will balance the budget. you have to make choices. you are forced to make choices. now it is always in their political interest for members of congress to charge it on a credit card if they were dismantling, people would not like that. so you have to do that. so i'm in favor of a balanced budget through the state, because i don't know congress, ordered him also in favor of term limits for members of congress, because their number one priority is to stay in office for 30, 40 years. that is another win incentive. i do think the president should have a line item veto. that means you can have a budget bill and you desk, you can veto individual items, or any item you want without having to veto the entire spending will. right now they pass these massive spending, bills the president choice is to find nothing or everything. i did not want your money going overseas to do things like

promote transgender-ism in bangladesh. yet that has happened with your tax dollars. it is wrong, we need to put a stop to it. >> governor, earlier, today a group of lawmakers unveiled 78 billion dollar bill to expand the child tax credit for low income families and exchange for business tax breaks favored by republicans during. cnn's debate last week, you said, i'm quoting you, now or publicans and need to do a better job lifting up folks who are having children. given that, do you support this deal? >> i don't know the details of, it but let me tell you this. this is from we talked with remote new hampshire, iowa, south carolina, all around the country. the american dream is slipping away from people in this country. because, nothing is hand it to you. that is never what america has been about. there are people who are working hard, getting in the most out of their ability, doing everything they can to put food on the table and raise

their families, and they are falling further and further behind. i think for this country to work, when you are willing to work, hard you are doing other right, things you have to be able to get ahead. so part of that is inflation we have seen with the reckless spending, the rising interest, rates i think governments role. so in florida we have taken steps to help families, for example we eliminated all sales tax on every baby item. so you are raising movies tax-free in the state of florida. no tax on diapers, wipes, cribs, strollers, none of that. we have a seven-year-old, a five, yield a three-year, -old i signed the permanent repeal last spring. by that time, our three old was out of diapers, i was very happy i did this. my wife did me -- what interest in that first year in office when your kids were in diapers, because you would have saved a lot of money. i can't speak to the specifics of that deal, but i do think my view on economics is going to be hard work as to pay off in this country. if we can get that where people

are getting ahead, we will be able to reinvigorate the american dream. >> governor, i want you to meet -- he is an attorney from new hampshire, he is a republican who is currently undecided. go ahead. >> governor desantis, might some accounts, we have over 20 million people in this country illegally. what is your plan for dealing with a deporting, making a citizens, of or -- of dealing with the people who currently are held in limbo as to the status in the united states. >> thank you for that question, this has been a problem that was compounded for decades. so here is my policy. one, the number of people that will be in the state's zero. we cannot do an amnesty in this country. that will just invite more people to do this illegally. we saw an 86 when they did that. we are going to deport people who are here illegally, and with routine interior enforcement. we will also do it by empowering states to enforce immigration law. someone comes across the border

in texas, or from canada into new hampshire for that matter, why shouldn't the state authorities, or the local sheriff be able to deport them back across the border? instead, they come, and they get turned over to -- that is not a deterrent, i support a border, well but if you don't have ontarian force meant, you are going to continue to have this problem and we are going to do that and make sure lot prevails. >> governor desantis, and during the biden administration, to be clear, and every single one of those undocumented immigrants will be out of the country. >> it is not limited to just will ask him from biden, but we are going to start there and go through that. so obviously, all of them we can do there now. there is lawsuits, there's these other things that have been. at a minimum, we will make sure

they remain in mexico. we have situations where just the practicality of this, new york city had to close the school. you literally have a kids told don't go to school, because they house illegal indians. talk about putting the american people last, that is not what you want to do. so i don't think we can just -- if you talk about rent prices, housing prices, we don't have enough construction in this country as is. so you have millions more people coming in, that puts a screws on the housing. so you have to enforce the law, we are going to definitely start with those biden folks because i think it was reckless that he let these people then illegally, and it is not just people coming in from mexico and central europe. yes there is a lot of central america, -- china, middle eastern countries, and you know what a lot of it, is military aged male's.

do you think that is going to be a benefit to this country and have those folks coming in that we know nothing about? i think it is a security risk. >> staying on the topic of immigration, i want you to meet -- he is a business consultant to technology companies from new hampshire who briefly ran for the u.s. senate as an independent back in 2022. isn't undeclared voters, says he is leaning toward supporting nikki haley. jeff, go ahead. >> the nation has serious long-term wishes to address that will require bipartisan cooperation. new tactics such as running up illegal immigrants, and -- when together the comprehensive immigration reform? with it more than a cheap political stunt but into one side? >> actually, if you think about, if you go back to september of 2020, to how is the border being treated? it was not a front burner

issue. the problem sort, real but it wasn't getting the type of scrutiny that it needed. doing the martha's vineyard, by the way they said they were century junction, they said all people are -- martha's vineyard couldn't handle 50. so i think that was an example of them wanting to impose a certain worldview of open borders on the rest of the country, but not being able to do it. this was something in the media really bogdan to. so ended up raising the temperature on, this and -- -- we do not have a ban sanctuary city, i think as president, i am not -- they are violating the law. in fact, i think we did it a

bit against -- a detainers a turn them over to release, they would not cooperate with federal immigration authorities. so there is multiple deportee, multiple, times to criminal record, they released them, and he murdered the mother of a three year old. all they had to do was give them to immigration authorities, he would have been deported. so we can't have st. george's diction,'s i think it is now front burner issue, and i think what we did there was part of it. i think what -- we have to solve this, and i'm willing to work with anyone who's willing to solve the problem. >> over the weekend, two children drowned near eagle pass texas, and they simply tried to cross the rio grande. after the jennings, a federal authorities got a distress call, two more migrants distressed,

agents were physically barred by texas authorities from entering the area. what obligation does the united states have to protect the lives of these migrants? >> first of all, i think this is problem for the open border. you are incentivizing some really airless behavior. there is people that are paying large amounts of money to coyotes and charge cartels to be brought into this country. there are people being abused essentially. there are people being trafficked. the u.s. is incentivizing this. it is madness. so stop beating the migration, having a close, water is the humanitarian thing to do. now i'm going to empower the states to be able to enforce immigration law. i don't think that texas should have to sit there and deal with other consequences of the federal government electing their duties. i think that has been a problem with a biden administration, saying we are not federal immigration laws just for the

feds, you can do, it but they are not doing it. so we are just supposed to let this, happen so we will work together with the state and local sheriffs, so you are not going to have these conflicts that exist right now between biden and texas for local sheriffs. >> i have a question, -- -- relatively new to politics, but much more aware, what are some policies you are looking to implement and a young person like me to transition, -- i grew up playing baseball, but people are --

-- there aren't very many floridians to come north and january, usually the north comes down to my state, i got negative temperatures and this isn't quite as -- here is a couple things one when i talk to young people -- -- average by some today's -- the other thing we will do is not that democrats won, and --

,,. . ,. ,. ,,. ,, a four year university as when you can be successful, it is not the only way. we need to tell young people that there are multiple pathways, and skilled trades, and --

i, jack-o'-lantern, go all these things. there is a demand for this. you go into the workforce and what we find is because our state is growing some of these folks they work for a furious and so their own businesses -- you're not going to be successful that really isn't true so let's have a more balanced approach, let's have -- important for the economy, i want him better industrial base in this country. and we have increased manufacturing governor, we are just getting, started we will be right back with more from the presidential debate with ron desantis after this.

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republican presidential town hall. we are live here in new hampshire with the florida governor ron desantis. governor, quick, question lost in 24 hours after his big win in iowa last, night former president trump was back in court once again today to be hearing in the second defamation suit filed against e. jean carroll in an earlier trial, the jury found he defamed, her and sexually abused her at a new york department store back in the 1990s. this case is just one of several looming over the former president in the coming months. how much should trump's legal peril -- how much should trump's legal peril factor into voters decisions as they head to the polls here in new hampshire, and indeed across the country. >> we have a choice as republicans, what do we want the 2024 election to be about? with me as their nominee, it

will be about holding biden accountable on the economy, on the, border on crime, on the problems that are national, on the growth of government and bureaucracy. bringing accountability for, covid ending weaponization of federal agencies, and then offering a way we can assure the american dream, and get the nations of fiscal in order. i think we win if that is how the debate is. if donald trump is the nominee, the election will revolve around all of these illegal issues, in his trial, perhaps convictions if he goes to trial and loses their. and things like january 6th. we are going to lose if that is the decision that voters are making based on that. we do not want it to be a referendum on those issues. we want it to be a referendum on the country going and the wrong direction, and a candidate like me being president, that can reverse the decline. here is the thing. we talk about issues that are important for sure, and there are some things that need to be addressed right away. but i view this election not

just for eight years, but to really things that are going to impact in this country for a quarter century. if you are not thinking down the road not long, then you are just not going to be able to do what we need to do so that america remains the -- i just don't think we are going to succeed if all of those issues are front and center on a voter's minds. so we have an opportunity to choose, and choose well. >> governor, i want to turn to theresa, she is an attorney and former u.s. military legal officer from nashua. she volunteers with national republican city committee, and the national area -- republican women. she says she is supporting you in the primary. teresa, go ahead. >> governor desantis, what can you offer today's youth as to why you felt an obligation to serve in the u.s. military. >> thank you for that question.

i wanted to do that as long as i, could if i couldn't, blatant been vault in that somehow. then 9/11 happen, and 9/11 really changed how i viewed the world. i grew up in the 80s and 90s, particularly the 90th, where it -- we did not have a care in the, world that was the reality that brought to our shores when those terrorist killed those 3000 people. so our nation was in conflict, i did not get anything, and in terms of, money, special i gave up a lot in the private, sector that it could have been able, to do in order to serve, but i just felt that i am blessed to be an american, last to be born and raised in this, country we or in, conflict and i felt i should raise my hand and serve. so we raised our hand to serve, and also volunteered to go to iraq. at the time was not forced to do that. it was something i wanted to do. so i was there in 2000, seven to thousand, a time period and i learned a lot. i learned about what veterans

go, through what our service members go, through what happens when they come, home and i will put veterans issues on the front burner as commander in chief, i will also be a commander in chief that if your son or daughter, or your grandkids are in the military, you are going to have a commander in chief that has their back. i'm not going to let a social agenda or all of these destructions in the military -- >> governor, on this, issue a lot of countries from finland to israel to south korea have mandatory military service for young people. is that something you would support here in the united states? >> i did not support a draft. obviously, our recruiting is that a generational low, we are at the lowest level since the end of the vietnam war when they got rid of the draft. some people said maybe do it. i think what you solve that problem, is to inspire in people who want to join. i do think when they see commander-in-chief hold the brass accountable, because no one has been held accountable for afghanistan.

not one person has been held accountable for one of the worst military debacles in american history. when they see us getting rid of some of the social stuff, and the woke ideology, saying no it is -- new will be promoted based on merit, that i think inspires people to want to join. when you join the military, you already a check for an amount payable to the united states of america, for animal up to including your life. you don't know what they will send, you know what contingencies will, have been but you want to know that the people in charge about the civilian and military levels, are only going to do that if it is to pursue the mission. they are not going to let these other considerations plow that out. so i will be a president that will do that. we will increase -- i will be the first president elected since 1988 who served in a foreign war. so i will be able to say john kennedy, said you can look back on your life with a great deal of pride and, say i served in the united states, navy that inspired a lot of people. ronald reagan said, some people

spent a lifetime wondering whether they made a difference, u.s. marines don't have that problem. so i will be a voice to tell young people that pursuing a career in the military as a noble us. >> speaking of u.s. marines, i want you to meet jason, will face a civil u.s. marine corps veteran from hudson, new hampshire, is a republican who says he is undecided in the primary. jason, go ahead. >> governor desantis, what do you plan to do about the lackluster performance of the veterans administration during the previous administration, there was a white house hotline that was amazing and helped veterans. it is no longer available in the same manner. what do you intend to do to help the veterans? >> thank you jason for your service, and we would not be a free country without those -- so thank you. what we are going to do is recognize that the va is a massive bureaucracy, i will fire people who are not doing a good, job bringing accountability. we will also harness all the resources that are in our country outside of the

government, this is a model we use in florida where we will use it for veterans. so we have something called the care, portal we recruit military groups, charities, churches businesses individuals so you go to the, va you maybe have post traumatic stress you need something maybe the va helps it with that immediately goes out to all these organizations so for example in for that we have an organization cannot worry is they train service dogs to be matched with a veteran that has post-traumatic stress. the dog understands the symptoms and can help mitigate against it. guess what, the suicide rate with those veterans plummets. it may be as simple as an individual that wants to volunteer that lives in your town, when they say you know, what i will go to this veteran's home having a tough time knocking on the door, i just want to let you know i care about you -- is there anything i can, do take you dylan? that right there could avoid a suicide. so we have a lot of resources, every part of this country appreciates the service of our

military men and women and the veterans, and let's harness that. so government can't solve all of these problems, all the government can do is be a facilitator so that a veteran gets the resources they need. when i left, i was given a packet with veterans benefits, it was bureaucracy. i did not understand what that was. let's cut through the red, tape cut through the bureaucracy, and harness all of these great resources that are available. >> governor, i want to ask you something nikki haley said earlier today, she was asked in an interview if the republican party was a racist party. her response was, and i'm quoting her, now we are not a racist, country we have never been a racist country. do you agree that the u.s. has never been a racist country? >> the u.s. is not a racist country. we have overcome things in our history. i think the founding fathers, they established a set of principles that are universal. now they may not have been universally applied at the time, but i think they understood

what they were doing. they understood that those principles would be the engine for progress, for generations to come. now that is what is have been. i think the republican party stands for merit and achievement, and color blindness. that is what we should stand for. so for exalehave eliminated thie universities like this d e and i. they say it is diversity equity and inclusion, but it is really ideological, and they're trying to impose an agenda. i think the way it is actually practice, it stands for discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination. it is wrong. let's not divide people based on rate, ethnicity, or gender, let's treat people as individuals, not as members of group. of course to all come together and say there should be no discrimination against anyone, based on that, but that is not just discriminating against -- minorities, of course you do not do that. it also means you do not discriminate against white americans, or in the university setting you don't discriminate

against asian americans just because they tend to have high performance. so individual achievement and merit has to be restored in this country, color blind society is what we should aspire to, that is what i will do as president. >> i just want to clarify, you agree with nikki haley that the u.s. has never been a racist country? >> what i have said, was we have had challenges with how race was viewed. so for example, those were universal principles in the declaration of independence, we had a decision in the 1850s in the trans the case, because he was, black he was not an american citizen. that was wrong. that was discriminating on the basis of race. that is why you ended up having the 14th amendment ratified to overturn treads got. so yes we have had challenges with how we dealt with race as a society, we are -- no matter what your background is, if you have one place you want to grow up and have the most opportunity, there's not

many, background this is the best place to grow up and pursuit your dreams that any place in the entire world. >> governor, we will be right, back we have a lot more coming up with republican presidential candidate ron desantis.

>> welcome back to cnn's republican presidential town hall with the florida governor ron desantis. governor, baseball as you know better than, me played a big part in your, life in your younger, u.s. your team made it to the little league when you are just a, kid and you're the captain of the baseball team when you are an undergraduate yale. is there anything you learned in your playing days that still guides you today? >> great question. so this is from the time i could, walk i was involved with baseball. this was my passion. i think what baseball teaches you is, one, you learn to deal with failure. you could be the best hitter in the league, and you are failing 65% of the time. that was not always easy for me as a kid. i would get upset if i did not get a hit. you learn how to do, that you learn how to come back. you also learn, it is a combination of individual sport, but also a team sport.

when you are in that batters, box no one else can do it with you. you see the, puck you had the, ball you either do it or don't. but in the grand scheme of things, you need to be able to have runners on, based have people draw in, played a, defense and do that. it is a combination of individual initiative, as well as a team sport. i have told the story a couple times, so i spent seven years in new england, partially playing baseball, but also for last, cool and adverted for the red sox, all seven years against the yankees. i was here in 2004 when they reversed the curse and broke the curse. interestingly, one of our troops in new hampshire, we stopped in boston the day before. i took my five-year-old son to fenway park. so he got to take a tour of it. i was showing him the video of fenway, how historic, it wasn't he was excited. we pulled into, fenway and he said that, i want to go to fenway park. but i'm not a red sox fan. i am a --

do not worry, no problem. so he had fun. i did not think anything of. it fast for just, mr. santa brian baseball quotes. is opening up the baseball cards. and -- any tampa bay rate he put in a special stack, when he got to the red sox players, included the -- visa formative experiences with things like based, what he saw that green monster, he got to walk on fenway park, and now he sees the red sox and it is something he likes. so maybe he got another fan in -- >> i want you to meet andrew, he is a retired u.s. army officer and -- he is an undeclared voter who says -- >> first of, all i would like to thank you for your, service you and i served at the same now iraq together, this question i would ask for any

candidate as a combat veteran, and military officer where we worry about our veterans, and the things going on in the world today. are you -- are we ever going to deal directly with iran? >> if you are elected president, do you go for the head of the snake? more are you a -- diplomat? >> well, andrew, thanks for that question. where were you, what part of iraq where you? when >> i wasn't back. >> okay, we were in the, area thank you for your service. i appreciated. so here's what we are going to do with a run. we are going to understand they are the root of terrorism throughout the middle east, this is a country from the time the -- took power in 1979, as a feud america as a great state in. they were responsible for killing over 240 u.s. service members when it hezbollah mound marine corps in 1983 in beirut, lebanon. they financed, that an orchestrated. it and you probably saw this as,

well a lot of your combat were at the hands of iranian-backed -- they are responsible for killing hundreds of, troops maybe even over 1000. so that is personal to me because i remember that. the way you deal with iran, is if you turn the financial screws on them. you deny them money going into the regime. biden relax sanctions on iran, why would you do that. they will take that money and use it for nefarious purposes. we are going to use every tool at our disposal to deprive the regime of resources, starve them of money so that they are not able to -- and you had throughout the middle east. >> -- a mental health counseling agency, she is an undeclared voter, says she is leaning toward supporting nikki haley. go ahead. >> thank you. i'm at a health has to most, broken lives heavily on underperforming -- like this kills and resources to execute care. as president, how would you

support the expansion of small business model health sector, and executing metastasis the government typically awards nonprofit institutions? >> thanks for that question. do you have any recommendations on that since you are involved in it? >> anything you can give us. >> look, i think it is, important talking to voters, obviously the border, economy anyone, any one thing that doesn't get as much play with media or pulling,'s mental health. every corner of this country, people are concerned with mental health. so this is not just a local problem, or state problem. it is a national problem. i think there's a lot of different iterations to it. we have done and not help kids in school in florida, i have spoken about the need help veterans because they obviously have significant issues. but it extends broader than that. so we want to be a big partner with state and local communities, as president i understand that this is a national priority. i understand that this is something impacting communities in every corner of the united states of america. >> governor, we have more

coming up. we are going to take a quick break right now. much more with the republican presidential candidate won desantis right after this.

-- with florida governor ron desantis. governor, i want to bring and gavin. thinking is a college student from hanover, in hampshire. he is an undeclared voter who says he is currently undecided. gavin, go ahead. >> thank you so much for taking my question, governor desantis. dartmouth college, the institution i currently attend, has recently had forums promoting peaceful discussions between students. this has resulted in it being one of the few universities in the country that has maintained healthy political dialogue on campus, even after the events of october 7th in israel. as president, how would you advocate for peaceful and thoughtful policy conversations, even in such a polarized political environment? >> well, good to hear that is

happening, there. back in the day, i played baseball. we went up to dartmouth. it is interesting, from connecticut up. there it is a lot colder when you get up to hand over, that is for sure. but i'm glad to hear that. look, we have got to start being able to have conversations and disagree without hating each other. part of it is that is how you have a healthy society. i think about when i was growing up, i didn't know who a republican or democrat was, like friends and their families. that was not a divide. we all loved this country, we all believed in god, we were all patriotic, and now it is almost like if you have different political views, you can't socialize with somebody? i know the online and i know all that stuff can be very nasty, but the way i view it as a leader is, i will take a strong stance. or it will pursue bold agendas. not everyone likes decisions that you make, that is just the price of leadership, but we will tussle on issues. i will fight people on the other side. they can fight back. we will settle that issue.

next issue, maybe i agree with you on that. why would i want to bring a bridge and not be able to work with you, because for me, their ship is not about showmanship, it is not about entertainment, it is about producing results. as president, i will put a vision for this vision for this country, and i will work on executing it and making our country freer and more prosperous. if you care about anything else other than that, you are in the wrong line of work. so, yes, we have wait more things that unite us then divide us, and i think the divisions get brought to the surface so much. part of it is, i don't take the politics personally. people attack me, that is just the price of doing business. i expect that. i don't -- people sling errors -- arrows, that's fine. a year ago, you slanderous at me, but if we are to work together, i will do it. my responsibility is to the people, it is not about myself. >> governor, i want to bring in brian henchy, a sills engineer and former talk show host from merrimack. he is an undeclared voter who

says he is supporting you in the primary. brian, go ahead. >> thanks for taking my question, governor. so my name is brian, sorry i didn't mean to say that. during this campaign, you have been asked many, many, many questions by voters and the media. my question for you is, what is a question that you have never been asked? you have been through so many debates, so many questions, a lot of stuff. and i have been to a few of your events, so i would love to hear you say something new that you have never said before. so, what is a question you have never been asked during this presidential campaign that you wish you had been asked, thank you. >> that is a good question, brian, so thank you for your support. i had a debate with the governor of california, gavin newsom, a couple of months ago. one of the points of contention that came up was florida, what we did with respect to the special olympics and having the athletes be able to compete, and it didn't really get resolved. people didn't know. and i have never been asked to clear the air on that. here is what happened.

i think it shows the type of leader i am. in florida, we saw the covid stuff being used to deprive people of the rights and we took a stand against that. we said, pass protections, you can't have to choose between a shot you don't want and a job you need, and we will not have covid-19 vaccine passports where you are discriminated against based on your status of whether you decide to take the shot or not. well, we hosted the special olympics when air and lo and behold, the international bureaucracy that oversees that imposed a covid vaccine mandate on the athletes. well, one, that violated florida law, but to, i had families frantically coming to our office, saying that their kids will not be able to participate in this. and that was wrong, so we said, we will enforce the law against if you discriminate against these athletes and we ended up getting all the athletes that wanted to should be able to compete. and that had a huge impact on peoples lives. this summer, i am walking around the iowa state fair, and i ge